Removing a knackered bottom bracket

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helston90

Eat, sleep, ride, repeat.
Location
Cornwall
Decided to bring back to life a ~20 year old Trek MTB on as little money as possible- as a challenge.

I've become a cropper on getting the old BB out though, it's the non-drive side and is now missing all of its teeth so the BB tool is out of the window, and it's made of reinforced steel (maybe) apart from the teeth which were made of cheese.

Any thoughts on getting this thing out?
(You may notice I've been trying to grind some grooves into it to gain some leverage but to no avail.)

IMG_20151020_200525.JPG
 

Cold

Guest
Would heating up it with a blowtorch help to loosen it up maybe I've seen them do it on car tv shows with metal parks and it always seems to work.
 

steve50

Disenchanted Member
Location
West Yorkshire
I would brace the bb against something solid like a block of wood, get someone to hold the frame for you so it doesn't move then use a suitable cold chisel and hammer against one of the grooves you have already made remembering you have to turn it anticlockwise to loosen it, maybe give it a good soaking with plusgas or a good quality releasing spray (wd40 is no good)
Some good info here,
Removing the cup using nut and bolt and a few washers
The bolt is put through the cup from the inside of the bottom bracket, and the nut screws onto it from the outside. There should be washers on both sides of the cup. You will need a socket wrench and a short extension to tighten the bolt from inside the bottom bracket, and a box wrench for the nut.

A large socket wrench will not fit into the cup, so you will need some small-diameter washers to space the head of the bolt out so that the socket wrench can reach it. This is what I use the four split lockwashers for. I didn't need lockwashers as such, but the readily available flat washers were too large in outside diameter to fit into the cup.

To remove a right-threaded fixed cup (French or Italian), tighten the bolt with the socket wrench from the inside of the bottom bracket, holding the nut with the box wrench. Once the bolt is as tight as can be, keep on tightening it, until the cup screws itself out. Once the cup starts to move, turn both wrenches together.

To remove a left=threaded (British, Swiss or Raleigh) fixed cup, hold the bolt with the socket wrench and turn the nut with the box wrench.

Use the same tool the opposite way to install the new fixed cup.

You might worry about damaging the cup, but this is not likely to happen. The washer doesn't usually come into contact with the bearing surface. Even if it did, bearing cups are made of extraordinarily hard, heat-treated steel, much stronger than that used to make washers.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbcups.html
 
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Make a T shaped piece of 6mm plate. Improve your grooves with a file so that the T piece fits in the grooves, and pokes down inside the BB.You then have a key fitting inside 2 keyways.

You can then put a big adjustable spanner on the T part outside the BB and turn - ideally after the application of heat from a hot air gun. You need to arrange a big G cramp too to push the T shaped key into the BB to stop it falling over as you apply the torque. You may need to fettle a bit but you get the idea. Edd China on Wheeler Dealers used a similar technique to get a bearing out of a Renault Alpine rear hub.
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
....no, the pedal on that side has a left-handed thread, the BB is right handed. The reverse applies to the drive side.....
Yep, that's the adjustable side so it's right hand threaded.
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
Once you've worked out which way to turn it, the nut and bolt method is the best. Go and buy a longish bolt, a couple of nuts and washers and tighten the bolt firmly through the cup, the direction depending on which way you need to turn it. Then get to work with the big spanner.....

Something like this:

12864026755_a9daa06da3_o.jpg
 

DRM

Guru
Location
West Yorks
Give it a good soaking with penetrating oil over a couple of days first, then try the nut and bolt method, sometimes you can use a centre punch on one side to mark it, then use the centre punch to tap it round with a hammer.
 
Had a similar issue with a similar vintage MTB. Ended up cutting the cup out with a Dremel and cutting wheel. Worked well.
 
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